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By
CARLA WILLIAMS, Staff writer
cwilliams@minotdailynews.com
The Souris Valley
Humane Society held its annual membership meeting Sunday
at the Minot Public Library.
Kathy Sconyers, executive director for the humane
society, gave members an update on the shelter, top
volunteers were given recognition and proposals for
by-law changes and new board members were both voted
upon.
Even though the humane society was recently forced to
temporarily close its doors due to an outbreak of canine
distemper, Sconyers told members that the staff is
working very hard in keeping the shelter clean under the
advisement of veterinarians.
‘‘We call it a hiccup. It had nothing to do with our
cleanliness or procedures,’’ Sconyers said. ‘‘Once we
open our doors in 60 days from now, we will be that much
better. It gives us time to refocus and go forward and
work on programs we want to work on.’’
Sconyers said that right now the shelter doesn’t want
the public or volunteers to visit within the next few
weeks, but they’re hoping to have the doors back open
fairly soon only for cat adoptions. The humane society
is also looking for a temporary facility elsewhere to
handle five to 10 dogs, and they’re also seeking foster
homes for those dogs on a waiting list to enter the
shelter.
‘‘Foster homes are a huge need for the next couple of
months,’’ Sconyers said. ‘‘Our waiting list is getting
bigger.’’
Despite the setback, Sconyers told members that things
have really turned around for the shelter over the past
year. From September 2006 to currently, the humane
society raised $54,444 from ongoing fundraisers
including $22,255.57 at An Evening to Paws Gala in April
and $4,663.87 from the donation banks that are around
town at the local businesses. Also, since opening its
Kitty City, all of the original cats placed in the new
socialization room have been adopted.
‘‘The humane society is a really good place to go. If
you see where we were 15 to 16 months ago, it really has
changed,’’ Sconyers said. ‘‘We have updated databases
that we can immediately access any list, and things have
been cleaned up and painted. We would like more money as
we would like to go all the way back and paint. We’re
taking baby steps, and we’ll eventually get there. ’’
Sconyers said that their new implemented programs
including the satellite adoption program and petmatch
program are going strong with five animals being adopted
trough the satellite adoption program and 18 pets on a
waiting list to enter the shelter being matched with
owners prior to entering the shelter through the
petmatch program.
‘‘We continue to be very successful and are coming up
with new things everyday,’’ Sconyers said.
With things looking bright for the humane society,
Sconyers told members there is plenty of more work to be
done including placing a huge focus on their spaying and
neutering programs and educating the public, gaining
more memberships including corporate members, placing
emphasis on their microchip program and taking the
humane society to the rural areas for those who may not
want to drive to Minot.
‘‘We have grown our membership to 289 members from 186
members in the last 15 to 16 months,’’ Sconyers said.
‘‘We’re going to be attacking membership more. Our
corporate members program is doing fairly well with 12
members, which means a lot to us and shows that
businesses support us in what we’re doing.’’
Sconyers, along with board president Judy Olson, told
the members without volunteers, life would be difficult
for the shelter. Jill Roloff, Betty Roloff, Herman
Roloff, Silvia Kickert, Terry Nelson, Katie Guthmiller,
Kathy Hebert, Tony Gruenwald and John Zimmerman were all
recognized during the meeting as top volunteers for the
humane society and were given certificates.
‘‘The shelter doesn’t exist without volunteers,’’ said
Olson.
Members passed four proposed humane society by-laws
changes unanimously. These changes include changing the
purpose of the humane society to the “Souris Valley
Humane Society is an advocate for animals, speaking for
those who cannot speak for themselves.” Previously the
purpose was phrased, “The Souris Valley Humane Society
is committed to the prevention of cruelty to animals.”
Other passages were Sconyers’ title being changed from
chief executive officer to executive director; having
the top five vote board recipients serve two terms and
the sixth top vote recipient will receive a one-year
term, so each board member will serve for two years
resulting in staggered elections; and having board
officer positions re-elected every year.
Finally, members voted on new or incumbent board
members. The 2007-2008 board members for the humane
society include Judy Olson, president; Janice Sweeney,
vice-president; Kristin Bien, secretary/treasurer; Rita
Goff; Dave Lehner; Mark Mattson; Don Nelson; Terry
Nelson; and Tracie Schwab. |
